Costain has poached Taylor Woodrow’s construction managing director, Andrew Wyllie, to be its next chief executive.

Wyllie has been appointed to take over from Stuart Doughty, no later than September this year.

Wyllie joined Taywood in 1984, and was appointed managing director of its construction arm, which has a turnover of £500m, in 2001.

He has worked on large contracts in the UK, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, the Falkland Islands, and Malaysia. He is expected to drive the international expansion of Costain.

Doughty, 62, became chief executive on joining Costain in 2001 to implement a five-year recovery plan, which was widely perceived to be successful.

Wyllie also has experience of leading a company turnaround. In 2000, he made 800 Taywood staff redundant when he was put in charge of a cost-cutting programme.